The Mt. Alvernia High School was founded in Montego Bay Jamaica in 1925 by the Fransiscan Sisters of Allegany at the request of the Roman Catholic Church to provide education for the Catholic girls of the area.

Although the original goal of the founders, Mother Theophane and Mother Alacoque was the education of the economically poor, responding to the needs of the society, the school expanded to include students from all religious as well as socio-economic levels of the community.

MISSION STATEMENT

We, the members of the Mt. Alvernia High School community are committed to the development of the whole person. We strive, through mutual co-operation with the home and society to educate and nurture young women preparing them for responsible citizenship.

We aim to achieve these objectives through Christian principles in the spirit of St. Fransis of Assisi, giving special attention to the following:

Our Philosophy

Mt. Alvernia High School began in 1925 as St. James Academy, a small boarding school, and was soon after renamed Mt. Alvernia Academy. It was established by the Allegany Fransiscan Sisters to fill the need for the Cambridge University Junior Examinations and the Associated Board London Royal Schools of Music Examinations. The number of students attending classes increased steadily over the years.

In 1939, Mother Antoninous OSF suceeded Mother Theophane as Principal. The school population was only twenty-seven. In 1943 a centre for the Music examinations of the Royal Schools of Music was established at Mt. Alvernia and soon after, the school was considered capable of presenting candidates for the Cambridge School Certificate Examinations.

In 1953, Sr. Eloine Marie became Principal of the school and immediately began working towards having Mt. Alvernia established as a grant - in - aid school. the curriculum was further enlarged and qualified teachers with degrees were employed in order to emet the requirements of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture (MEYC). Finally in August 1959, Mt. Alvernia became a grant-in-aid schoolwith an enrollment of 71. Since then, the school population increased even more rapidly and new block of classrooms were erected to keep pace with the growing numbers.

In 1971, Sr. Joan Clare was appointed Principal and over the next fifteen years the enrolment increased from 347 to 1,516. A new wing consisting of three floors was built and a third floor was later added to the old wing. A few notable achievements over the years are as follows:

1960 First Graduation

1966 Became Examination Centre for Cambridge O'Level

1968 Sixth Form established

1970 Commercial Department was expanded

1972 French added to the Curriculum

1979 Social Studies added to the Curriculum

1983 German added to the Curriculum

1988 Computer Studies added to the Curriculum

Extra-curricular activities hae also flourished over the years and students have participated in several inter-school competitions with success. With the opening of the Montego Bay Community College in 1978, the sixth form was closed. French and German have been removed from the curriculum because of an acute shortage of teachers.